this is 26th shloka from chapter 1 of vidura-neeti, an excellent, stand alone section of the grand epic mahAbhArata. in this the great emperor dhRitarAShTra - whose sons were the villains making life miserable for their cousins pANDavas - is extremely restless about tomorrow's court appearance of the messenger, sanjaya, who brought the message from pANDava side.

a disturbed emperor calls for his wise minister and brother vidura at late hours and asks for words of wisdom regarding dharma (right conduct) and artha (politics).

the wise vidura bares all his wisdom for the benefit of the emperor, but sadly, to no avail, as the deadly war does take place.

It is surprising that one, the words to this are available only in context of "that महादेवन mahAdevan song from Hindi movie विरुद्ध Viruddha".
Second, a few sites that give the words, have major errors, (search for 'gananayakaya" on the net) breaking words where they should not, very ambiguous and incorrect transliteration.

It is important to know the correct words, for it enhances the essence of devotion, and brings about further change of heart, than just mumbling on a nice melody/music.

I could not find any good rendering of just the words, what to say of meaning. Hope this post, fills that void.

- geya-charita = whose personality/praises are sung, gAyaka-vara = worthy/ideal of singers, gandharva-priya-kRit = benefactor (priya-kRit) of the musicians (gandharva).
- expander of the dominance of musicians(?), one who loves water of gangA (wrongly written as ganges).

- gaurI-stanandhaya = breastfed by gaurI, gaurI-hRidaya-nadana = bringer of joy to the heart of gaurI (or the child of gaurI's wish(heart)(^4)

- gaura-bhAnu-suta = brilliant (bhAnu) son of pArvatI, gaurI-gaNa-Ishvara = lord in the form of gaurI-gaNesha.

- gaurI-praNaya = dear to gaurI, gaurI-pravaNa = leaning towards gaurI (young gaNesha in her lap, or one who leads to shakti), gaura-bhAva = the essence of gaurI (bhAva), meditate.

Yes-men are great! They make you feel more better, when you are feeling good. Similarly, when you are feeling down, they will take you even further down :) For they will simply say what you want to hear, not what you should hear!

It is like yelling in an echo well! Or watching yourselves in the mirror.

In corporates and administration, if you get yes-men, they are not even your eyes - to see the current or the future. It is like glasses on the eyes of a blind man.

But such yes-men are abundant. people don't want to offend others, specially if it is not in a large public place, where you could care less for others! For a king, a CXO, it could be dangerous. Render you aimless, submarine without periscope, ship without rudder, sailor without compass.

This shloka first appears in Ramayana (rAmAyaNa) [3:37:2] , when Maricha (marIcha) warns Ravana (rAvaNa) against his plans of abducting Sita (sItA). Later, in Yuddha Kanda,Vibhishana (vibhIShaNa) warns Ravana again to return Sita and avoid the war. Both times, the speaker dares to defy and go against the will of a King gone mad.

This shloka is also told by the very wise Vidura in the epic Mahabharata (mahAbhArata) to the blind emperor Dhritarashtra (dhRitarAShTra). One day the emperor calls for Vidura late at night to his palace, and complains of sleeplessness. Vidura says that "one who challenges a stronger foe, the helpless, the one who has been robbed of everything, one in affair or a thief - these suffer from lack of sleep, and asks if the emperor has any of the situation applicable."

After a long and stimulating counsel on what should a good king, statesman, leader do, he goes on to say this warning.

Reminds me of a much later saying - "We don't always love all whom we praise." Read it again, yes! There are lot of actors in the world, who would do anything to please you, as long as you have some muscle or money or power.

But for a leader, king, CEO it is important to get the real perspective, real clarity of thought. But such people who would say even unpleasant truths as long as like they are medicinal in value, would do long term good. A good king should surround himself with a panel of really learned, simple, truthful people who won't be scared to say they can't see the emperor's clothes.

Next time someones gives you criticism, or tells you the real truth about matters, thank them. For their truthfulness in feedback will help you improve.

this shloka is also part of the preface to hitopadesh (practical counsel)
in which the importance of knowledge is propounded.

here, it compares the knowledge of weapons and sciences. on the surface it may seem the intention of using shastra and shAstra is merely for poetic, alliteration purpose, just had to say something. for it is difficult to find much depth in it.

unless we consider this:
1. this is being taught to princes - the future kings - it is like their BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) course.
2. a king has to be a soldier as well - adept at some weapons personally.
3. every king aspires to grow, like modern corporations.

by saying knowledge of weapons, it implies, how to actually use the weapon, e.g. how to best shoot with a bow, rifle, cannon, missile launcher etc.

this shloka is the second of the shlokas that king sudarshan heard on his morning walk by the river gangA (no, ganges is NOT the right name). see the first shloka here. (hitopadesh kathAmukhaM)

four situations that may cause mishaps, misfortune, catastrophe, wrongdoing.

youth -
youth think they are immortal, nothing is impossible (or should i use the copyrighted - impossible is nothing!), nothing can hurt them. they would do craziest things like para-sailing, driving motorcycles on rear wheel at 130 miles per hour, or any such adventure sport (add you favorite crazy thing here), which someone with family and secure job and a bit of age would consider - insane!

this is the second of the morning shloka. as mentioned in the previous shloka, when the two shlokas are said at a relaxed pace - with 'aum' before and after, and then a minute to reflect on the morning to come, and your good fortune to be alive ... - it would take a minute or two, which is good enough to get the blood pressure stabilized for the brain.

so in the first one, we thanked our stars that we have our hands intact, figuratively meaning that our fate and future is in our hands to make or destroy. now the day has begun, and we need to 'make' the most of it. but how? no matter where we go, we will have to step on the ground. if you live on the 9th floor of an apartment complex or something ultra modern like that, think of the time a few hundred/thousand years back, when people lived closer to earth, even in ultra modern metropolis of the times.

now we all know and accept today, that mother earth needs to be saved green! aha, we do call her 'mother' earth, even though we have assumed we are given 'dominion' over her! imagine abusing one's own mother to the extent we have done! but here, in this shloka, the reciter says -o mother earth, forgive me for i have to step on you, trample/touch you with my feet, for i have to go around my daily chores to make my destiny, my fate!

so three questions?1. why is she called ocean-draped?2. why is she called mountain-breasted?3. and why wife/consort of viShNu?

you may want to take a pause and think about them

today we know that 70-75% of the earth surface is covered with water. i guess that much of the body is covered with clothes in any civilized traditional society (not at mardi gras or cancun for sure!) and water flows like a flowing garment of a woman. there is a beautiful poem where the river is like the flowing scarf on the beautiful lady earth, which she is trying to clutch with the fingers (in the form) of the moving bamboo shoots on the river bank! and water's "dharma", characteristic, is to flow, so it is apt to think of earth as ocean-clad.

and interestingly, india has had a LONG tradition of sea-faring traders. 'lothal' was a great port of saraswatI-sindhu (indus valley) civilization or the harappa civilization. this is fast being accepted as continuation of the actual vedic civilization. its farming practices are still practiced by farmers in eastern pakistan and rajasthan (western india). then later the sea faring indians went to trade all the way to south eastern asia - the mighty rAja rAja chola of the chola dynasty; cambodia, angkor vAT temple etc.

going along with the metaphors, the mountains are like her breasts, the nourishing source of the mother!

but why these two aspects and why wife of viShnu?

viShNu is the divinity of sustenance, the all pervading sustainer, the provider. and what do we need for sustenance? resource, wealth! and that is why lakShmI, the goddess of prosperity (material and spiritual) is viShNu's consort.

but why earth?

well, where do WE get all our resources and wealth? the food, the cloths, the minerals, metals, oil, medicines, gems, diamonds, sheep, cows, horses, whatever it maybe? everything we have, we get in this world, and leave behind in this world! we get all these resources from the earth. even the things we make in the factories, their raw materials come from the earth. in that sense, a non-hindu may say - what lakShmI? but universally it has to be accepted that earth is the giver of resources, i.e. vasudhA.

so even if we don't believe in lakShmI per se, we have to accept earth as the resource provider, and hence as the consort of viShNu.

and where are these resources found? although they are found many places, the mountains and oceans are special treasure places. after the churning of the ocean, the deva and dAnava (cousins) got the various celestial treasures - moon, lakShmI, celestial nymphs, ambrosia, indra's elephant airAvata etc. but the first thing that came out was the black thick poisonous fluid called halAhala accompanied with dense clouds. somehow this always reminds me of the petroleum extraction - natural gas on top, and dark black oil!

even today lot of important resources are obtained from ocean, including petroleum.and don't forget that rains are caused due to the oceans

the mountains are also a special source of resources- medicinal plants as well water for rivers. in rAmayaNa, hanumAn has to go to himAlaya for getting the life saving medicine for lakShmaNa. lot of mountains are formed due to colliding tectonic plates and bring out things that were otherwise deep within the earth. that is how himAlaya is formed.

so at a macro level these are used to go along with the feminine image of earth, on the micro level, these are chosen because of the largest treasures of resources.

next time you think of environment, and green peace and recycling and think of this shloka which encapsulates the deeper understanding of our planet than meets the eyes.

and yes, say these two shlokas in the morning, thank the hands, ask for forgiveness and start day humbly! happy making your fate and destiny.

if you find this article enlightening, interesting or worth your time, i request you to leave comment so i know you read and liked.